Sue Perry's Blog: Required Writing, page 37

Yeast Bread: Invention or Discovery?

Nowadays I’m not much into cooking but I do like thinking about how recipes and techniques got started. I assume many of them were happened upon, along the lines of gee, nobody in the Singh family ever seems to die after they eat and they sure love spicy food …hmm, maybe those spices can help with spoiled meat.

The capper, for me, is yeast bread. Think about it. You’re a baker like me so you get distracted and when you wander back – yikes, the dough is a monster, over the sides of the bowl, WTF

…So you hit it – why? Fear maybe? Frustration? Popping an air bubble? Oh that looks okay again… but why are the kids screaming? Is there a sabertooth loose in the neighborhood?…

… and you wander away again and when you come back: not again! Better get this thing on the fire before it really gets out of control…

What do you think? Is that how yeast bread happened? Or did someone say, these tiny organisms promote certain chemical reactions, I wonder how they will interact with wheat…

When Anything Could Be Anything

I loved the days when my kids could take just about anything and convert it to something fun to do. For example,

giant-boxes-on-board-screwed-into-two-sets-of-skateboard-wheels +  gentle-incline => tandem go-cart race

On your mark…

And awaaaay they go…

 

I probably thought this was horribly dangerous. If only this had remained the pinnacle of risks that my now 19-year-olds would ever undertake.

My Epitaph Collection (vol. 17)

Ouch. A graveyard with headstones:

…carved mottoless with simple names and dates as though there had been nothing even their mourners remembered of them than that they had lived and they had died…

From William Faulkner’s only mystery novel, Intruder in the Dust.

Sequels and Missed Opportunities

Some of my readers have requested a sequel to my recent novel Scar Jewelry. While I am thrilled that they care enough about the characters to want a part two, I suspect the requests come from desire to witness certain conversations and interactions that, well, frankly, won’t ever occur, even if I were to write a sequel. Such additions would make the story more tidy, maybe – but no longer right.

Here’s the bottom line: at any moment, life stretches in all directions and sometimes the options feel endless. But most of those options are fleeting opportunities and it can really be too bad if we don’t say something or do something or change something when we have the chance.

If this is a spoiler it is an enigmatic one that shouldn’t harm the reading experience.

Fear of Blogging, part VII

Take the Poll About Your Writing Times

New poll on the home page of my blog: What time of day do you prefer to write?

I’m a night owl stuck in an early bird world: my answer used to be 4a because I stayed up that late. Nowadays it is 4a because I got up a little early.

Uh huh. So this is the adulthood that I was so eager to get to.

What Is It About Dogs and Skunks?

Our dog got sprayed again the other day, chasing a skunk in our backyard again the other day. I can’t decide whether she…

a) still does not understand the connection between chasing the skunk and getting sprayed?

b) thinks the risk is worth the reward?

c) likes the smell?

d) likes to get that special bath?

I’m pretty certain the answer is not d), given how little she likes baths.

The last time she got sprayed, I was covered in it by the time we figured out why she was foaming at the mouth. In line at the grocery store, people around me were sniffing the air and saying, ‘smells like burning tires.’ Heh.

A couple days later, I was still emitting eau d’skunk in the 110 degree room of a Bikram yoga class. Turns out the instructor was one of those one in a billion who loves the smell. (Dog in previous life?) This, however, did not make me less of a pariah during the class. But for once I got the floor space I deserve.

Impromptu Rorschach Test (3)

Mysterious symbols on a busy road near my house.

Bike riders on this path ascend quickly to heaven?

My Epitaph Collection (vol. 16)

Epitaph for a comedian:

Three worms walk into a bar…

Live Theater Phobia

It is a struggle for me to watch live theater productions. I feel tense the whole time because I fear I will witness an actor seriously and obviously botching lines, and watch an uncomfortable struggle to get past the problem.  Something deeply disturbing about seeing the actors’ eyes signaling to each other while, with their mouths and bodies, the show goes on.

I don’t know why I have this fear. I go to live music all the time and never worry about performance glitches there. Maybe I had an abusive theater experience as a child.

Anyone else have this? Anybody?